Thermopile.



No. 842,391. PATENTED JAN. 29, 1907. H. DIECKS.

THERMOPILE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.1I.1906

2 SHEETS---SHEBT 1,

1227673 6&8,

PATENTED JAN. 29, 1907.

H. DIECKS.

THERMUPILB.

APPLICATION TILED JAN,11,1-OG.

2 SHEETS--SHEET 2.

A fro/m7; LS.

HENRY DIECKS, OF EASTPORT, BLAINE.

THERMOPELE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 29, 1907.

Application filed January 11,1906. Serial No. 295,614.

construction as to permit ready introductioninto a heating-chamber, the wall of the latter affording a su ort for the device.

A further ect of the invention is to provide a thermopile in which the inner ends of the couples are made semicircular in form and provided with screw-threads for the reception of securing-nuts.

With these and other objects in view, as will more fully hereinafter appear, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanyin drawings,and articularlypointed out in t 1e appended 'c aims, it .being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, size, and minor details of the structure ma be made without departing from the s )irit or sacrificing any of the advanta es o the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation illustrating the application of a thermopile to an internal-combustion engine. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view through. the exhaustipe, showing the thermopile on an enlarge scale. Fig. 3 is a partial sectional plan view showing the heated ends of one of the couples on an exaggerated scale.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The engine is of any ordinary construction and is provided with a sparker 11, which may be of any desired type, that illustrated in the drawings being one in commercial use.

Leading from the cylinder is a pipe 12, through which the exhaust is allowed to escape to any suitable point of discharge, and this exhaust-pipe carries a thermopile, (indicated generally at 15,) the thermopile being connected in a circuit 16. After the engine is started into operation the heat from the exhaust will maintain the inner ends of the couples of the thermopile at a temperature suliicient to insure the production of a current of electricity, and such current is conducted by the circuit-wires 16 to the said sparking device, any suit able provision being made for controlling the operation of the sparker. The current will continue to flow so long as the engine remains in operation, thus dispensing with batteries or other forms of generators and materially lessening the expense of operation.

The thermopile is formed of a plurality of radiating couples of antimony and bismuth, which are united at their outer and inner ends. The inner ends of the couples 17 and 18 are preferably made semicircular in crosssection and are threaded for the rec-eption of nuts 20, by whicluthe couples are coniined in place. The inner ends of the couples are passed through suitable openings formed in the exhaust-pipe 12 and are insulated therefrom by insulating sleeves and washers 21, the nuts 20 being also formed of some insulating materialsuch, for instance, as vulcanizedfiber-and serving both as a means for holdin the ends of the couples together and for locldng the same in position on the exhaust-pipe.

The inner ends of the couples are exposed to the heat of the products of combustion passing through the exhaust-pipe, and the temperature of the inner portion of the thermopile is raised to an extent sufficientto start it into operation. The outer ends of the couples are arranged at a sufiicicnt distance from the exhaust-pipe to maintain the necessary low temperature.

I claim- 1. In combination, a casing or pipe through which a heated fluid may be directed, said casing having a perforated wall, a thermopile formed of radiating couples, the inner ends of said couples being brought closely together in parallel relation and extended through the perforations to be exposed to the action of heat, and means for locking said inner'ends to each other and to said casing.

2. The combination with a casing or pipe through which a heated fluid may be directed, the wall of said pipe being; perforated, of a thermopile formed of radiating couples, the

inner ends of said couples being semicircular the same in place.

5 pies, and nuts arranged on the threaded portions of the couples and serving to confine In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiixed my signature in the presence of two wltnesses.

HENRY DIECKS. IVitnesses:

F. W. WILLIAMS, W. C. KING. 

